Richard Bruton

Richard Bruton TD
Minister for Enterprise and Employment
In office 1994–1997
Preceded by	Charlie McCreevy
Succeeded by	Mary Harney
Teachta Dála
Incumbent
Assumed office February 1982
Constituency	Dublin North Central
Senator
In office October 1981 – February 1982
Constituency	Agricultural Panel
Personal details
Born	(1953-03-15) 15 March 1953 Dublin, Ireland
Political party	Fine Gael
Spouse	Susan Meehan
Children	4
Alma mater	University College Dublin, Nuffield College, Oxford
Website	Official website

Richard Bruton (born 15 March 1953) is an Irish Fine Gael politician and has been a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Dublin North Central constituency since 1982. He was Minister for Enterprise and Employment in the Irish government from 1994 to 1997, and he was the Opposition Spokesperson on Finance and Deputy Leader of Fine Gael from 2002 to 2010. On 14 June 2010, party leader Enda Kenny removed him following a leadership challenge. He was subsequently appointed party spokesperson on Enterprise, Jobs and Economic Planning.

Early and private life

Richard Bruton was born in Dublin, and grew up in Dunboyne, County Meath. He is the son of Joseph and Doris Bruton. He was educated at Belvedere College, Clongowes Wood College, University College Dublin and Nuffield College, Oxford. At Oxford he graduated with a MPhil in Economics, his thesis being on the subject of Irish public debt. He is a Research Economist by profession, and after university he worked at the Economic and Social Research Institute. This was followed by two years in the tobacco company P.J. Carroll before moving on to his final private sector job at CRH.

He is the younger brother of John Bruton – former Taoiseach and EU Ambassador to the United States.

Bruton is married to Susan Meehan and they have four children, two sons and two daughters.

Political career

Bruton was elected to Meath County Council in 1979 and was elected Seanad Éireann in 1981 on the Agricultural Panel. At the February 1982 general election he was elected to Dáil Éireann as a Fine Gael TD. From 1986 to 1987 he served as Minister of State at the Department of Industry and Commerce. He was then appointed Opposition Spokesperson for Enterprise and Employment.

After the 1992 general election, Fianna Fáil and the Labour Party formed a coalition government, which collapsed in 1994. Bruton then helped to negotiate the Rainbow Coalition between Fine Gael, the Labour Party and Democratic Left. In that government his brother, John Bruton, became Taoiseach. Richard Bruton took the highest ranking Fine Gael ministerial position, serving as Minister for Enterprise and Employment.

Fine Gael leadership election, 2002

Among Fine Gael's disastrous results at the 2002 general election, Bruton was one of the few front bench Fine Gael TDs to retain his seat. In all, the party lost 23 of its 54 seats, and leader Michael Noonan resigned. Bruton stood as a candidate in the subsequent leadership election. He was defeated by Enda Kenny but instead was appointed Deputy Leader of Fine Gael. He was also appointed the party spokesperson for Finance, a post he maintained until 2010.

Fine Gael leadership challenge, 2010

On 14 June 2010, Bruton was sacked as Deputy Leader and spokesperson on Finance by his leader Enda Kenny. He informed his colleagues that he would be proposing a leadership challenge against Kenny. Kenny explained that he and Bruton had had a series of discussions in which Bruton said he had lost confidence in him. Kenny later told the media that "Richard's decision leaves me with no option but to relieve him of all his responsibilities". He also said that "some unnamed people have done huge damage to Fine Gael through their anonymous comments to the media which has resulted in an opinion poll dominating the news agenda". He then assigned responsibility for the Finance portfolio to Deputy Kieran O'Donnell.

Before Bruton's sacking, Fergus O'Dowd from County Louth came out as a supporter of Bruton and he was the first person to do so. Nine members of the front bench publicly expressed no confidence in his leadership. These included senior politicians such as Leo Varadkar, Simon Coveney, Brian Hayes and Olivia Mitchell.

On 17 June 2010, a meeting of the parliamentary party was held and the 70 members cast their vote. The outcome was that the parliamentary party voted confidence in Enda Kenny as leader. Bruton then declined to comment as to whether he would serve in Kenny's front bench despite saying before that it would be hypocritical to do so. On 1 July 2010, he was appointed by Kenny as party spokesperson on Enterprise, Jobs and Economic Planning.

External links

• Richard Bruton's official website
• Richard Bruton's page on Fine Gael website